Encyclopaedia Britannica; or, A dictionary of arts and sciences, compiled upon a new plan … > Volume 2, C-L

CHI ( 184 ) CHI
the word comes from the Perfian tchehle minar, that
is to fay, forty towers.
Don Garcias de Silva Figueroa, Pietro della,Valle,
Sir John Chardin, and Le Brun, have been very par¬
ticular in defcribing thefe ruins.
There appear, fay they, the remains of near four-
fcore columns, the fragments of which are at lead fix
feet high ; but there are only nineteen can be called
entire, with another detached from the reft, about an
hundred and fifty paces : a rock of hard black marble
ferves as a foundation to the edifice: the firft plan of
the houfe is afcended to by ninety-five fteps, all cut in
the rock ; the gate of the palace is about twenty feet
wide, with the figure of an elephant on one fide, and
that of a rhinoceros on the other, thirty feet high, and
, both of poliftied marble : near thefe animals there are
two columnsj and not far from thence the figure of a
- pegafus. After palling this gate, are found fragments
of magnificent columns in white marble, the fmalleft
of which are fifteen cubits high, the largeft eighteen,
having forty flutings three full inches wide each ; from
whence we may judge of their thicknef? and other pro¬
portions. Near the gate is feen an infcription on a
fquare piece of black marble, containing about twelve
lines; the charafters are of an extraordinary figure,
refembling triangles, or pyramids: befides this, there
are other infcriptions, the charaflers of which refera¬
ble the Hebrew, Chaldaic, or Syriac; others the A-
rabic or Perfian ; and others, in fine, the Greek cha-
ra&ers. Dr Hyde, who hath explained the Greek
infcription, by fupplying fome words that are effaced,
obferves, that the infcriptions are engraved very ne¬
gligently, and perhaps by fome foldiers ; or, if they
are the work of an engraver, he thinks that he was
from Palmyra,. and confequently that they are in the
Phoenician tongue : he adds, that as they are in praife
of Alexander, they were probably done in the time of
that conqueror.
CHILTERN, a chain of chalky hills, running from eaft
to weft through Buckinghamlhire.
CHIALERA, in geography, a port town of Turky in
Europe, fimated at the entrance of the guIph of Ve¬
nice, in the province of Epirus, about thirty-two
miles north of the city Corfu, near which are the
mountains of Chimaera, which divide Epirus from
Theflaly: E. long. 20° 40', and N. lat. 40° 20 .
CHIMAY, the name of a great lake, lying in the pro¬
vince of Acham, between the Eaft-Indies and China.
CHIMERA, a fabulous monfter, which the poets feign
to have the head of a lion, the body* of a goat, and
the tail of a dragon; and add, that this odd beaft was
killed by Bellerophon. The foundation of the fable
was, that in Lycia there was a burning mountain, or
vulcano, of this name; that the top of this mountain
was feldom without lions, nor the middle, which had
very good grafs, without goats ; that lerpents bred at
the bottom, which was marfhy • and that Bellerophon
rendered the mountain habitable.
By a chimera, among the philofophers, is under-
ftood a mere creature of the imagination, gompofed of
fuch contradiflions and abfurdities as cannot polfibly
any where exift but in thought.
CHIMES of a clock, a kind of a periodical mufic, pro¬
duced at equal intervals of time, by means of a parti¬
cular apparatus added to a clock.
CHIMNEY, in archite&ure, a particular part of a houfe,
where the fire is made, having a tube or funnel to car¬
ry away the fmoke. See Archjtecture.
CHINA, including Chinefe Tartary, a large empire, fi-
tuated between 950 and 135° E. long, and between
2iQ and 550 N. lat. being accounted two thoufand
miles in length, and one thoufand five hundred in
breadth; it is bounded by Ruffian Tartary on the
north, by the Pacific ocean on {he eaft and fouth,
and by Tonquin, Tibet, and the territories of Ruffia
on the weft. It is ufually divided into fixteen pro¬
vinces, which will be defcribed in their alphabetical
order. In thefe provinces there are computed to be
one hundred and fifty-five capital cities, one thoufand
three hundred and twelve of the fecond rank, two
thoufand three hundred and fifty feven fortified towns,
and upwards of ten millions of families, which may a-
mount to about fifty millions of people.
The principal commodities of this country are filk,
tea, China ware, Japan-ware, and gold duft; of all
which the maritime ftates of Europe import great
quantities, fending them lilver in return.
CniNA-ro<3/, in pharmacy, a medicinal root, brought both
from the Eaft and Weft-Indies, thence diftinguilhed.
into oriental and occidental; it is the root of a fpecies
of fmilax. See Smilax.
ChinA-ivare. See Porcelain.
CHINCA, a port-town of Peru, in South America, fi-
tuated in an-extenfive valley, on a river of the fame
name, about fixty miles fouth of Lima : W. long.
76°, and S. lat. 130.
CHIN COUGH, a convulfive kind of cough, which
children are chiefly fubjeft to. See Medicine.
CHINESE, in general, denotes any thing belonging to'
China. See Chjna.
It is obferved by fome, that the Chinefe language
has no analogy with any other Janguagedn the world :
it only confifts of three hundred and thirty words,
which are all monofyllables, at leaft they are pro¬
nounced fo fhort that there is no diftinguiftiing above
one fyllable or found in them; but the fame word, as
pronounced with ftronger or weaker tone, has diffe¬
rent fignifications; accordingly, when the language is
accurately fpoke, it makes a fort of mufic, which has
a real melody, that conftitutes the effence and diftin-
guifhing charadfer of the Chinefe tongue.
As to the Chinefe charadfers, they are as Angular
as the language; the Chinefe have not, like us, any
alphabet, containing the elements, or, as it were, the
principles of their words: inftead of an alphabet they
ufe a kind of hieroglyphics, whereof they have above
eighty thoufand.
As the Chinefe pretend to an antiquity both with
regard to their nation and arts, far beyond that of any
other cation, it will not perhaps be unacceptable to
give